The list of Armoured Fighting Vehicle and Tank used by Israel (IDF) and Arabs in Six day war:

Armoured Fighting Vehicle and Tank used by Israel in Six day War:1. Sherman M-50 and the Sherman M-51modified versions of the M4 Sherman tank. The Sherman underwent extensive modifications including a larger 105mm medium velocity, French gun, redesigned turret, wider tracks, more armor and upgraded engine and suspension.

In three villages southwest of Jerusalem and at Qalqilya, houses were destroyed "not in battle, but as punishment ... and in order to chase away the inhabitants ... ---contrary to government...policy," Dayan wrote in his memoirs. In Qalqilya, about a third of the homes were razed and about 12,000 inhabitants were evicted, though many then camped out in the environs. The evictees in both areas were allowed to stay and later were given cement and tools by the Israeli authorities to rebuild at least some of their dwellings. But many thousands of other Palestinians now took to the roads. Perhaps as many as seventy thousand, mostly from the Jericho area, fled during the fighting; tens of thousands more left over the following months. Altogether, about one-quarter of the population of the West Bank, about 200-250,000 people, went into exile. ... They simply walked to the Jordan River crossings and made their way on foot to the East Bank. It is unclear how many were intimidated or forced out by the Israeli troops and how many left voluntarily, in panic and fear. There is some evidence of IDF soldiers going around with loudspeakers ordering West Bankers to leave their homes and cross the Jordan. Some left because they had relatives or sources of livelihood on the East Bank and feared being permanently cut off. Thousands of Arabs were taken by bus from East Jerusalem to the Allenby bridge, though there is no evidence of coercion. The free Israeli-organized transportation, which began on June 11, 1967, went on for about a month. At the bridge they had to sign a document stating that they were leaving of their own free will. Perhaps as many as seventy thousand people emigrated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. On July 2 the Israeli government announced that it would allow the return of those 1967 refugees who desired to do so, but no later than August 10, later extended to September 13. The Jordanian authorities probably pressured many of the refugees, who constituted an enormous burden, to sign up to return. In practice only 14,000 of the 120,000 who applied were actually allowed by Israel back into the West Bank by the beginning of September. After that, only a trickle of "special cases" were allowed back, perhaps 3,000 in all.(328-9)

In addition, between 80,000 and 110,000 Syrians fled the Golan Heights, of which about 20,000 were from the city of Quneitra. According to recent research by an Israeli daily Haaretz, much of the Syrian population was expelled from the territory by the Israeli army.

Jews in Arab countries

With the loss of Arab lands, the minority Jews living in the Arab world immediately faced persecution and expulsion, following the Israeli victory. According to historian Michael B. Oren,

mobs attacked Jewish neighborhoods in Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco, burning synagogues and assaulting residents. A pogrom in Tripoli, Libya, left 18 Jews dead and 25 injured; the survivors were herded into detention centers. Of Egypt's 4,000 Jews, 800 were arrested, including the chief rabbis of both Cairo and Alexandria, and their property sequestered by the government. The ancient communities of Damascus and Baghdad were placed under house arrest, their leaders imprisoned and fined. A total of 7,000 Jews were expelled, many with merely a satchel.

Revolution in Egypt. Young officers including Gemal Abdel Nasser overthrow monarchy and proclaim goal of modernization and undoing the shame of 1948.

Oct. 29, 1956

Suez Campaign. In retaliation for a series of escalating border raids as well as the closure of the straits of Tiran and Suez canal to Israeli shipping, and to prevent Egyptian use of newly acquired Soviet arms in a war, Israel invades the Sinai peninsula and occupies it for several months, with French and British collaboration. French and British were interested in reversing the nationalization of the canal. Israel withdraws after a UN peace keeping force is placed in Sinai, and US guarantees right of passage for Israeli shipping through the Straits of Tiran. Suez Canal reopened March 23, 1957.

1957

Probable start of construction of Israel nuclear breeder reactor using French technology. The French later tried to stop the program, but backed down when Israeli FM Peres said Israel would make the deal public. Reactor was discovered by the US in U-2 flights in 1960 or 1961.

1957

U.S. committed in an aide de memoire (memorandum) to guarantee freedom of passage in the Suez canal, signed February 11. A later memorandum of February 23 answered questions and clarified Israeli doubts, making it clear that US would allow use of force to keep the straits open. However, the US government later claimed that it had no knowledge of such commitments and that the memorandum was "lost."

Nov 18, 1959

Israel abandons earlier Jordan river diversion scheme, begins work on the National Water Carrier Project, to divert the waters of the River Jordan from the Sea of Galilee to the Negev, taking its share of Jordan water in accordance with Johnston plan.

1959

Fatah founded. In the summer of 1959, according to a detailed account by Thomas Kiernan, Yasser Arafat, Khalil al Wazir, Saad Khalef, Faruq Qadumi, Zuhair al Alami, Kamal Adwan, Muhamed Yussef an-Najar and others found the Fatah organization in Kuwait, with the aim of destroying Israel. The name means victory or conquest.As "conquest" does not sound politically correct, they note that they can reverse the name to be Harakat Tahrir Filastin, Palestine Liberation Movement. Various dates and soon renamed "Fatah" (Conquest or "Victory"). The organization was to be modeled on the Algerian FLN. (from Kiernan, Thomas, Arafat, Norton, 1976 pp 214-218). Various other dates as early as 1957 are given in other sources, and may refer to informal meetings held by the Palestinian expatriate group surounding Arafat.Fatah was formally founded in 1964.

Oct. 23, 1958

Soviet loan to Egypt to finance Aswan Dam.

Nov 18, 1959

Israel abandons earlier Jordan river diversion scheme, begins work on the National Water Carrier Project, to divert the waters of the River Jordan from the Sea of Galilee to the Negev, taking its share of Jordan water in accordance with Johnston plan.

Jan 13-17 1964

First Arab summit at Cairo (the Egyptians count this as the third Arab Summit) (ie. heads of State, instigated by Nasser), prompted by Israel’s national water carrier project and Palestinian agitation against it. Arabs declare their intentions of stopping the Israeli diversion scheme, which is in accordance with the Johnson plan, and decided on establishment of the PLO. A Unified Arab Command under Egyptian supervision was created. This summit and the one that followed in September caused considerable alarm in Israel, and is cited by Avi Shlaim (The Iron Wall) as the actual beginning of the 6 day war.

May, 1964

PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)founded with the aim of destroying Israel. The Palestinian National Charter (1968) officially called for liquidation of Israel. PLO was founded by Egypt to divert Palestinian energies from the nascent Fatah movement of Yasser Arafat, which had become anti-Nasserist.

June 5, 1964

Israel begins pumping water from the Sea of Galilee for the Israel National Water Carrier. Israel agreed to take only its share of water allotted under the Johnston plan, with the tacit agreement of Jordan.

Sept 13, 1964

Second Arab Summit at Alexandria decides on diversion of the headwaters of the Jordan as well as strengthening regional Arab armies. Arabs declare the aim of destroying Israel. Israel addressed two notes to the UN Security Council, concerning the alarming nature of the summit resolutions to destroy Israel.

Jan. 2, 1965

Al Fatah carries out first sabotage in Israel, against the Israel National Water Carrier. Fatah carried out about 122 raids between Jan 1965 and June 1967, later boasting that they had dragged the Arab states into war. Most of these raids were abortive

Jan. 1965

Syrians capture Israeli agent Eli Cohen, cutting off an important source of intelligence about Syrian deployment, particularly in the Golan. Cohen was executed in May.

1965

Syrian water diversion project begins. Syrians fire on Israeli demilitarized zones, often in response to Israeli provocations. This gives Israel the excuse to bombard earth moving equipment of the diversion project.

Sept. 18. 1965

Third Arab Summit at Casablanca. Conference draws up staged plan for combating Israel, first building up armed forces of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon over 2.5-3 yrs & refraining from war with Israel; then proceeding to war.

"The Palestine question [is] the main axis of our domestic, Arab and international policies... The liberation battle can only be waged by progressive Arab forces through a popular war of liberation, which history has proved is the only course for victory against all aggressive forces.... it will remain the final way for the liberation of the entire Arab homeland and for its comprehensive socialist popular unification.

May 25, 1966

USSR claims falsely that it has uncovered a Zionist plot to attack Syria.

July 7, 1966

IAF attacks Syrian diversionary scheme after Syrian shelling of Israel, and downs a MiG 21. The diversion scheme is abandoned.

Aug 15, 1966

Israeli patrol boat run ashore in DMZ on Eastern shore of lake Galilee is attacked by Syrian air force and artillery. Israel air force downs two MiGs, but the boat must be salvaged at night due to persistent artillery fire.

Nov 9, 1966

Egypt and Syria sign defense treaty. This date is also given as Nov. 4. A secret codicil promised that Egypt would attack Israel in the south if Israel attacked Syria.

Nov 10, 1966

Three Israeli soldiers are killed by a land mine on an Israeli patrol road near the the border, south of Hebron. King Hussein sends an apology via US ambassador Walworth Barbour, but Barbour fails to deliver the apology.

Nov 13, 1966

Samu' raid: Israeli troops retaliate for the November 10 killing of 3 Israeli soldiers by a mine planted on a patrol road. The attack unexpectedly runs into a column of Jordan Legion soldiers, kills 15 Jordanian soldiers and 3 civilians, & dynamite 125 houses in as Samu according to UN or about 40 according to Israelis.near Hebron; in response to the Israel is censured by SCR228 (25 Nov 66), but there is no military response from Amman. This leads to recriminations in the Israeli government, which had intended a smaller scale raid, and Palestinian anger and clashes with Jordanian security forces throughout West Bank, especially in Nablus where the army had to intervene. The PLO gains support.

Over 270 border "incidents" cause rising concern in Israel. March 3 - Landmine injures tractorist in Kibbutz Shamir. March 12, explosion on train tracks near Kibbutz Lahav. March 26, 2 Palestinians killed trying to demolish a water pump near Arad.

April 7, 1967

Israelis respond to intensive Syrian shelling of DMZ and and Israeli villages and kibbutzim with IAF raid. An air battle involving about 130 aircraft developed. Israelis down 6 MiG 21 fighters, 2 over the Golan and 4 over Damascus.

May 11, 1967

Israeli PM Eshkol states, "In view of the 14 incidents in the past month alone it is possible that we will have to adopt measures no less drastic than those of April 7." UPI circulated a rumor (May 12) that Israel was trying to topple the Syrian regime. The incidents included shelling, terror attacks and attempted infiltration of a Syrian agent to blow up locations in Jerusalem.

May 12, 1967

Remarks by Yitzhak Rabin interpreted as provocative against Syria. Rabin is rebuked by Eshkol.

May 13, 1967

Soviets inform Anwar Sadat in Moscow that Israel is massing 10-12 brigades in preparation for an attack on Syria, supposedly to take place May 17. The information is false, as were several similar previous Soviet warnings.

May 14, 1967

First reports of Egyptian troop movements into Sinai.

May 16, 1967

Radio Cairo broadcast stated: "The existence of Israel has continued too long. We welcome the Israeli aggression. We welcome the battle we have long awaited. The peak hour has come. The battle has come in which we shall destroy Israel."

Ben-Gurion summons Israeli Chief of Staff Rabin and accuses him of precipitating the crisis and dragging Israel into a dangerous war. On the following day, Rabin, under tremendous pressure, is incapacitated temporarily by nicotine poisoning, massive fatigue or a nervous breakdown.

May 23, 1967

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closes the straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Egypt moves six divisions, about 130,000 soldiers, into Sinai. Negotiations with US to reopen the Straits of Tiran fail.

May 26, 1967

Speech by Gamal Nasser to Arab Trade Unionists - - Nasser claimed that Egypt was only looking for the right movement and the proper excuse to fight for the Palestinian cause.

May 26, 1967

President Johnson reluctantly agrees to see Abba Eban. Tells him he is powerless to act to open straits of Tiran and requires more time (about two weeks) to assemble UN support for a regatta to open the straits. Warns Israel against unilateral action. Subsequent UN debate proves fruitless.

May 27, 1967

Nasser cancels a planned Egyptian attack on Israel (Operation fajr - Dawn), planned for following day, after it became obvious that the Israelis knew about the plan.

May 28, 1967

Israeli Levi Eshkol broadcasts a hesitant, stammering speech, further exacerbating pressure on him to make way for other leaders. Later it is claimed that the stammering was due to problems in reading the manuscript.

May 29, 1967

Speech by Gamal Nasser to Egyptian National Assembly Members - Nasser explicitly threatened to destroy Israel: "...God will surely help and urge us to restore the situation to what it was in 1948....But now that the time has come - and I have already said in the past that we will decide the time and place and not allow them to decide - we must be ready for triumph and not for a recurrence of the 1948 comedies. "

President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq stated "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear - to wipe Israel off the map.

Jun 2, 1967

Moshe Dayan joins Israeli cabinet as Minister of Defense. Unity gov't formed. Reservists released for furlough before outbreak of the war.

Southern District Commander Yehushua Gavish gives attack order. Tal's division crosses southern Gaza into Rafiah; Jordanian radar at Ajlun detects the Israeli attack and warns Egyptians, but the Egyptians do not get the transmission.

Syrian artillery bombardments continue all along the northern border with Golan.

5:55

Israel reconnaissance flight spots ship off Gaza coast, later identified as USS Liberty, and marked on Israeli situation map. Liberty had not received cables ordering it to withdraw 100 miles from the coast.

08:00

Link up of central and southern command forces at Dahirieh (west of Hebron).

IAF attacks Syrian defenses in preparation for operation Hammer, which is then cancelled.

06:00

Kuntilah conquered.

13:00

IDF destroys Jordan river bridges.

9:00

Israeli pilots spot Liberty 30 km north of El Arish. Rabin summons US Naval attache and warns him to identify or remove U.S. ships from battle zone. Israeli requests for naval liaison were repeatedly refused by US.

Explosion of ammunition dumps at El-Arish mistakenly attributed by Israelis to naval attack. Rabin repeats order to sink any unidentified ships.

01:41

Liberty spotted, but not identified, by Israeli torpedo boats, who request air assistance. Israeli air reconnaissance fails to identify the ship.

01:57

2 Israeli Mirages strafe the Liberty. A squad of Mysteres dropped napalm on the ship. Before renewing the attack, Israelis identify Latin alphabet lettering, showing the ship was not Arab, and break off attack.

Torpedo ship squadron pagoda, ordered to hold back, nonetheless arrives on the scene of the USS Liberty battle and fires five torpedoes at the ship after US personnel fire at the torpedo boats.

15:30

Egypt accepts cease fire (9:30 PM N.Y. time)

16:00

End of Kalat a-nahal battle.

18:00

Kantara conquered

Day 5

Egyptian Front

Jordanian Front

Syrian Front

June 9

01:00

Yoffe's advance armor reaches Suez Canal

07:20

After intercepted message from Nasser indicates Arab forces are near collapse, Dayan reverses his stand and the decision of the cabinet, and orders attack on the Golan Heights. Initially a limited plan called "Hammer."

11:30

8th brig. begins advance on Syrian lines in North Golan

12:35

IDF conquers Tel Hallal

17:00

IDF conquers Tel Azaziat

18:20

IDF takes Tal Fahr bunkers after bloody battle.

18:30

Nasser, in televised speech, blames the United States for the loss and insists that the US helped Israel. He threatens "The Sixth Fleet runs on Arab Petroleum." Nasser announces resignation. Speech is followed by anti-aircraft fire and a huge "spontaneous demonstration" that causes him to retract the resignation.

18:30

IDF takes Zaura-Kala compound.

20:00

IDF takes Rouya

Day 6

Egyptian Front

Jordanian Front

Syrian Front

June 10

0:400

IDF conquers Jalabina fortifications.

08:30

Syrians announce falsely that Kuneitra has fallen, in order to pressure for a cease fire.

14:30

Kuneitra falls to IDF (12:30 according to Michael Oren, 6 Days of War)

According to George Lenczowski, as early as May 23, President Johnson secretly authorized supplying Israel by air with a variety of arms systems, even when an embargo on weapons shipments was placed on the Middle East.

Stephen Green wrote in his book that the United States sent reconnaissance aircraft to track nighttime movement of Egyptian ground forces in order to facilitate daytime Israeli air attacks that proved important for Israel's advances. Richard Parker disputes this and suggests that it is a hoax, based on the questionable testimony of a single man.

On the second day of the war, Arab state-run media reported that American and British troops were fighting on Israel's side. Radio Cairo and the government newspaper Al-Ahram made a number of claims, among them: that U.S. and British carrier-based aircraft flew sorties against the Egyptians; that U.S. aircraft based in Wheelus Air Base-Libya attacked Egypt; and that American spy satellites provided imagery to Israel. Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, the chief of “Al-Ahram” in the Nasserite period, repeated similar claims at Al Jazeera channel. Later, Muammar al-Gaddafi's Libyan government confirmed these claims also only to get a pretext for the coup that took place on 1 September 1969. The governments of United States and Britain made little effort to either confirm or deny these claims. Similar reports were aired by Radio Damascus and Radio Amman. Egyptian media even said that King Hussein had personally seen radar observations showing British aircraft taking off from aircraft carriers.

Outside of the Arab world, claims of American and British military intervention were not taken seriously. Britain, the U.S. and Israel denied these allegations. On June 8, Egyptian credibility was further damaged when Israel released an audio recording to the press, which they said was a radio-telephone conversation intercepted two days earlier between Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan.

Nasser: ...Shall we include also the United States? Do you know of this, shall we announce that the U.S. is cooperating with Israel?

Hussein: Hello. I do not hear, the connection is the worst - the line between you and the palace of the King from which the King is speaking is bad.Nasser: Hello, will we say the U.S. and England or just the U.S.?Hussein: The U.S. and England.Nasser: Does Britain have aircraft carriers?Hussein: (Answer unintelligible).Nasser: Good. King Hussein will make an announcement and I will make an announcement. Thank you... Will his Majesty make an announcement on the participation of Americans and the British?Hussein: (Answer unintelligible).Nasser: By God, I say that I will make an announcement and you will make an announcement and we will see to it that the Syrians will make an announcement that American and British airplanes are taking part against us from aircraft carriers. We will issue an announcement, we will stress the matter and we will drive the point home.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, as the extent of the Arab military defeat became apparent, Arab leaders differed on whether to continue to assert that the American military had assisted the Israeli victory. On June 9, 1967, Nasser stated in his resignation speech (his resignation was not accepted):

What is now established is that American and British aircraft carriers were off the shores of the enemy helping his war effort. Also, British aircraft raided, in broad daylight, positions of the Syrian and Egyptian fronts, in addition to operations by a number of American aircraft reconnoitering some of our positions... Indeed, it can be said without exaggeration that the enemy was operating with an air force three times stronger than his normal force.

King Hussein, however, later denied the allegations of American military support. On June 30, he announced in New York that he was "perfectly satisfied" that "no American planes took part, or any British planes either". In September, The New York Times reported that Nasser had privately assured Arab leaders, gathered in Sudan to discuss the Khartoum Resolution, that his earlier claims were false.

Nonetheless, these allegations, that the Arabs were fighting the Americans and British rather than Israel alone, took hold in the Arab world. As reported by the British Representative in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a country at odds with Egypt as a result of the Yemen war:

President Abdel Nasser's allegation ... is firmly believed by almost the whole Arab population here who listen to the radio or read the press ... Our broadcast denials are little heard and just not believed. The denials we have issued to the broadcasting service and press have not been published. Even highly educated persons basically friendly to us seem convinced that the allegations are true. Senior foreign ministry officials who received my formal written and oral denials profess to believe them but nevertheless appear skeptical. I consider that this allegation has seriously damaged our reputation in the Arab world more than anything else and has caused a wave of suspicion or feeling against us which will persist in some underlying form for the foreseeable future ... Further denials or attempts at local publicity by us will not dispel this belief and may now only exacerbate local feeling since the Arabs are understandably sensitive to their defeat with a sense of humiliation and resent self-justification by us who in their eyes helped their enemy to bring this about.

Well after the end of the war, the Egyptian government and its newspapers continued to make claims of collusion between Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. These included a series of weekly articles in Al-Ahram, simultaneously broadcast on Radio Cairo by Mohamed Heikal. Heikal attempted to uncover the "secrets" of the war. He presented a blend of facts, documents, and interpretations. Heikal's conclusion was clear-cut: there was a secret U.S.-Israeli collusion against Syria and Egypt.

According to Israeli historian Elie Podeh: "All post-1967 [Egyptian] history textbooks repeated the claim that Israel launched the war with the support of Britain and the United States. The narrative also established a direct link between the 1967 war and former imperialist attempts to control the Arab world, thus portraying Israel as an imperialist stooge. The repetition of this fabricated story, with only minor variations, in all history school textbooks means that all Egyptian schoolchildren have been exposed to, and indoctrinated with, the collusion story." The following example comes from the textbook Al-Wisam fi at-Ta'rikh:

The United States' role: Israel was not (fighting) on its own in the (1967) war. Hundreds of volunteers, pilots, and military officers with American scientific spying equipment of the most advanced type photographed the Egyptian posts for it (Israel), jammed the Egyptian defense equipment, and transmitted to it the orders of the Egyptian command.

In Six Days of War, historian Michael Oren argues that the Arab leadership spread false claims about American involvement in order to secure Soviet support for the Arab side. After the war, as the extent of the Israeli victory became apparent to the Arab public, these claims helped deflect blame for the defeat away from Nasser and other Arab leaders. In reaction to these claims, Arab oil-producing countries announced either an oil embargo on the United States and Britain or suspended oil exports altogether.

Six Arab countries broke off diplomatic relations with the United States, and Lebanon withdrew its Ambassador. More broadly, the Six Day war hastened the process of anti-American radicalization in the Middle East, a process expressed by the growth of both leftist and religious-fundamentalist movements and their increased resort to terrorism as a weapon in their anti-American struggle. In fact, it transcended the Arab countries and spread to Iran, Pakistan and the Third World, whose delegates at the UN began adopting increasingly critical posture toward America.

A British guidance telegram to Middle East posts concluded: "The Arabs' reluctance to disbelieve all versions of the big lie springs in part from a need to believe that the Israelis could not have defeated them so thoroughly without outside assistance."